Stuff That Works

Stuff that works

Stuff that holds up

The kind of stuff you don’t hang on the wall

Stuff that’s real

Stuff you feel

The kind of stuff you reach for when you fall

— “Stuff That Works,” Guy Clark

I’m not a materialistic guy. Not house-proud. A car or truck is a conveyance, not a status symbol. But I do love good gear. Stuff that works. So I thought I’d start an occasional series of posts celebrating favorite elements of kit. I’ll start with a hands-on approach.

OK, so they look better on Christmas Abbott than they do on me…

My brother turned me on to Mechanix Wear gloves a few years back. I never liked to wear gloves — and my hands show it. The protection never seemed worth the loss of dexterity, and they always made me feel claustrophobic. I didn’t realize that I just hadn’t been using good gloves.

Mechanix Wear makes gloves that fit, well… like a glove (sorry) … with little sacrifice in dexterity. And they’re tough. For some reason, I’m hell on boots and gloves and stuff like that (partly because I spend a lot of time in the red cinders of our volcanic terrain). Like the song says, stuff that holds up. I use ’em on the wood pile, I wear ’ em when I’m scrambling in the rocks, I use ’em for work (not typing… hauling and chucking newspapers) and I use ’ em in my workouts. Hell, my racquetball partner has gone through half a dozen gloves while my glove with the padded palm is still going strong.

Hunters use ’em, “operators” use ’em, NASCAR pit crews use ‘em. They’re Stuff That Works.